Rep's plan would cut A-C superdistricts

McKillip working on maps to boost minority voting strength

State Rep. Doug McKillip, R-Athens, is drawing up new district maps that do not include the so-called "superdistricts," two districts that each cover half of Clarke County, in order to boost minority voting strength.

Or, without the two majority-white superdistricts, a quarter of the remaining eight commissioners would be black.

Superdistricts were created during city-county unification in 1990 because city residents were used to having multiple councilmen from each ward. The benefit is if one representative won't help, constituents have someone else to turn to.

"Everybody in Athens knows they have two commissioners they can call," superdistrict Commissioner Mike Hamby said. "That's been a big selling point."

Former Commissioner John Barrow and a local NAACP official suggested eliminating superdistricts during the last round of redistricting in 2001, but then-Mayor Doc Eldridge nixed the idea because it would require going through the time-consuming process of getting the state legislature to change the local government's charter. It's resurfaced from time to time since then.

McKillip said he's not dead-set on throwing out superdistricts, but Mayor Nancy Denson suggested it during a conversation several months ago. He intends to prepare several maps, including one that keeps the current eight regular districts and one that divides the county into 10 districts, he said.

"I'm interested in providing a lot of options to promote choice and fairness," he said.

Denson disputed that account, saying she never suggested eliminating superdistricts. She told McKillip she wanted to match up the commission's eight regular districts with the Clarke County Board of Education's nine districts, she said.

McKillip's efforts to draw commission districts parallel to a redistricting committee Denson appointed in June was met with suspicion by Democrats, leading to speculation that he intends to preempt the local redistricting committee by introducing his maps during the legislature's Aug. 15 special session.

Denson called it a local control issue.

"Let Athens elected officials make decisions for Athens," she said.

The legislature, along with the U.S. Department of Justice, must approve city, county and school board districts. Traditionally, though, the legislature rubber-stamps local governments' maps.

While McKillip is up-front about wanting to elect more moderates and conservatives to the commission, he said he will not introduce his maps until the commission votes on sending its own version to the legislature Oct. 4.

"At this point, I don't have any plan to introduce this during the special session," he said.

Meanwhile, the local redistricting committee is considering two maps of its own. One, drawn by redistricting consultant Linda Meggers, slightly adjusts existing district lines to account for population changes over the past decade. Another, drawn by Republican appointee Regina Quick, drastically changes several districts and, like McKillip's proposal, eliminates superdistricts.

However, the committee is not going to recommend a map without superdistricts, said its chairman, Commissioner Harry Sims. If the public advocates for it, that issue will be left up to the full commission, he said.

"All we were asked to do is basically tweak the 10 districts that we have," he said.

Sims said he is not even sure superdistricts legally could be done away with. Meggers has said that an elected official's term cannot end early because of redistricting, and superdistrict Commissioner Kelly Girtz is not up for re-election until 2014,

The redistricting committee is scheduled to finish drawing at least two maps later this month and hold public hearings in late August and early September.

An unrelated forum, organized by the local Democratic and Republican parties, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Sunday at The Melting Point.